Asia

IPL 2022: Another batting implosion, another huge defeat for RCB

April 27, 2022
Henry Club

At 66/5, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chances depended on Dinesh Karthik, But Shahbaz Ahmed ran him out, via a terrible call. The throw came at the bowling end and Yuzvendra Chahal had dropped the ball. Karthik, though, had given up and Chahal got enough time for recovery. RCB were chasing a modest 145 for victory, but another batting implosion, on the back of 68 all out against SRH, put paid to their hopes.

They folded up for 115 to lose by 29 runs.

The MCA Stadium pitch in Pune had enough for the bowlers. But 145 was very much gettable. RCB would rue the dropped catch of Riyan Parag and Karthik’s run-out. They lost the crucial moments and the game. For Rajasthan Royals, Parag’s 56 not out off 31 balls eventually proved to be the difference between the two teams. But a lot of work was still to be done on the bowling front. Kuldeep Sen changed the game with the wickets of Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell in successful deliveries. Then, Ravichandran Ashwin joined the party.

Sen works up pace

As Virat Kohli came to open the innings, a trap was set. Not often does an opposition team set a trap for Kohli, but the latter was coming into this game after consecutive golden ducks. So a fielder, Daryl Mitchell, was posted at shortish square leg and Trent Boult angled the ball into the batsman’s body. The ploy nearly worked, just that Mitchell took the catch on half-volley and readily signaled to the umpire that it landed short. Kohli escaped his third duck in a row, but a Prasidh Krishna bumper got the better of him. A stunning catch to dismiss Boult was his only takeaway from this match.

As Kohli walked back, Sen took over. The fast bowler was dropped after the game against Gujarat Titans. Brought back to the fold, he worked up pace. He was a bit lucky to get du Plessis, for the RCB captain unerringly hit a length ball to Jos Buttler at cover. Maxwell’s scalp was exciting in its double bluff. The field was set for a short ball, but Sen bowled an away-goer that the batsman nicked it to first slip. It was fine captaincy from Sanju Samson to keep a slip at the outlet and RCB were immediately under pressure. They wilted under it, as Ashwin (3/17) tightened the screw followed by Karthik’s run-out, which made things improbable for RCB. Sen would return to tame Wanindu Hasaranga, beaten for pace, when the allrounder was showing some aggression. Harshal Patel‘s wicket in the final over took his match figures to 4/20.

Parag’s half-century

Royals reached the 100-run mark after 15 overs. But Shimron Hetmyer was there and the fire of hope was still burning. A few lusty blows from him would have been enough to take the Royals past 160, but he was cramped by the crawl that preceded him. Hetmyer had to go after everything. A failed slog-sweep attempt against Hasaranga sent him back to the dug-out, which canceled out a back-end explosion.
Before Hetmyer, there was Mitchell, who struggled to get going in his first game in this IPL. Twitter revelled in gallows humour: “He is giving an audition for Test cricket.” Mitchell’s 16 off 24 balls seriously affected his team’s mid-innings momentum. As it turned out, Shahbaz’s 17 off 27 deliveries for RCB was worse.

As regards to Royals, the damage was done upfront, when, for a change, Buttler fell cheaply. The opener misjudged the length of a Josh Hazlewood delivery, pulled it into the hands of the diving Mohammed Siraj at mid-on and departed for eight. Samson was set up by Hasaranga before the leg-spinner castled him, but more on that later.

RCB bowled well. Siraj trapped Devdutt Padikkal leg-before in his first over after making the batsman’s footwork iffy with a ripper. Ashwin, the floater in the Royals batting line-up, came at No. 3 and showed intent with a few gorgeous fours. But a Siraj lifter got big on him and the onus fell on Samson to take the innings forward. The wicketkeeper-batsman looks exquisite when he charges down against the spinners, gets to the pitch of the ball and lifts it over the boundary. Samson’s back-to-back sixes against Shahbaz were excellent viewing, but a fine over from Siraj pegged him back, forcing him to do something different against Hasaranga. His first reverse sweep against the leggie didn’t come off. Hasaranga’s next ball was fuller and faster and Samson’s premeditated reverse sweep attempt wasnt proper.

For 44 deliveries Royals couldn’t score a boundary. But Parag showed maturity and took the innings deep. Hasaranga dropped a sitter to give him a reprieve on 32 all right, but this knock would give the youngster more confidence going ahead.

Brief scores:

RR 144 for 8 in 20 overs (Parag 56*, Samson 27; Hazlewood 2/19, Hasaranga 2/23, Siraj 2/30) bt RCB 115 in 19.3 overs (Sen 4/20, Ashwin 3/17) by 29 runs.

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